Twin Hugs finished

I've uploaded the original photos, without reducing them to a standard 800x600, so this post is data heavy. You can click to see much more detail, however! They measure ~58"x68".

The block makers are: Anna (& Judy), Caroline (& Margaret), Jean, Janet, Terri, Gilly, Stacey, MJ, Carolyn (me), Carla, Marie, Diane, Nann, Arline, Ellie, Phebe, and Katie.

Quilting Stars

I've been busy quilting Thing One of the Twin Hugs. I commandeered the dining room table for the pin basting, then continued to hog the space until I finally finished the stars this morning.

I had a choice (one always does): keep the Brother in its spot

and clear out all this from around it (or risk having it swept to the floor),

or move the machine to the bar-height dining room table and sit perched on the edge of the chair for several days.

Perching for the win!

Progress report

All the signature squares have been sewn to stripes, and I'm halfway through sewing the rows together for the first back. I draped my progress on my cutting station for its photo op

because the second back is still taking up all the available room on the design wall.

I'm really liking Caroline's idea of inserting a Sairey strip between the rows.

I've decided to complete one quilt entirely instead of assembling and quilting them at the same pace, side by side. One of the hugs will be mailed to Canada for the binding, then mailed to the applicable twin. The other twin lives near me, so I'll assemble, quilt, and bind his Hug after the first one is mailed off, and they should both get them at roughly the same time.

Proof of Concept

 Well...it's a look, that's for sure.

Right now there are several blank areas at the ends of rows because they'll be filled with the cut-off segments from other rows. There'll be rearranging of fabrics and sig squares, but I'm happy with the concept. On the whole, I think the idea is sound.

The Next New Thing

These (there are two--one is pinned over the other) arrived recently and safely from Nann. She's got pictures of both tops on her blog. They're hugs from The Magpies to the surviving twin sons of our founding Magpie, Sarah.

58" x 68"

Ties That Bind

Last Saturday I put the final stitch into the binding of this,

Roughly 70" x 92"

wrote and ironed the label,

then flang it into the washer (hot water) then dryer (high heat) (I abuse the quilts before the owners get a chance, so I can assure them it's already gone through worse than they'll ever do to it). If I timed it right, I could get it delivered before my son went to bed (I had no idea what Jesse's schedule was, but I could see with my own eyes that Carl was still awake because he was streaming on Twitch).

Rather than try to fit everything into a label, I wrote my thoughts in a card. Lots more room to really describe what went into the decision to gift this.

Anna's Quilt

Back in August I was asked by Nann if I would consider quilting the Hug being organized for Anna. Well, I have this super deep-throated quilting machine now, and a willing QI, and it's for Anna for heaven's sake, so of course I said YES!

The blocks were made by several Magpies (Anna knows who they are) and sent to MJ, who assembled the top: